Friday, 18 March 2016

Channar Puli, or Paneer Gulab Jamun, popular and famous sweet delicacy hails from the Indian region of Bengal, similar to irresistible Gulab Jamun made with Paneer. They look exactly like Gulab Jamun, which are made with Mawa or Khoya, but these guys are made with Paneer and condensed milk.

" A house with daffodils in it is a house lit up, whether or no sun be shining outside " ~ A. A. Milne

It seems that the season of spring kicked the winter out of the tournament at quite an early stage and I am enjoying the way spring ever so slowly creeping back into our lives with a dash of a colour and giving us colourful life indeed!

Enjoying the ever so charming looking weather, breathing delightful fresh and cold air, and there is something about fresh blossoming flowers on a tree lined street or peeking out of the field of the grass that cheers all up. There are countless reasons why we all love spring !I love spring because Spring brings joy , happiness and positive vibe. Spring is musical and it's music thrills our ears and surely it's freshness and beauty pleases our eyes and awakens all the senses. Along all these sheer pleasures, spring brings Festival of Colours-Holi and obviously Holi adds to the glory of the spring season.

If you've just landed here or you're either a loyal reader, maybe you wanted to peek in my window of craziness, recipes and want to know, What Holi means to me and how I celebrate Holi outside India peek here,( Gelatin free Thandai Panna cotta and with rose and saffron Jelly ) here ( Sukha Mewa Kachori ) and here ( Paneer and Cashew Ladoo ). Instead today you have a chance to hear from my fellow food blogger friends whom are in different parts of the world, they will tell you what are the significance of Festival Holi in their lives, and what one dish/recipe they would like to have during this festival.

Priya, of Priya's Verstalie Recipes, from Paris, FranceHello ReadersWell and Wish the same. Here comes few lines about Holi from me..

Though Holi, the popular festival of colours is celebrated all over India, I have never had a chance to celebrate either in India or in France. However its doesn't matter and I love this colourful festival.

Heard a lot about this festival, am seriously waiting to celebrate very soon with my friends and family as this festival is getting quite popular especially in Paris among Indians. Although my kids Been born and brought up in France my kids know very well about our Indian festivals especially our Indian customs and foods. Holi is one more festival my daughter want to celebrate as much as like me. Hope very soon we will celebrate this festival of colours at home with.

Hi All,MARCH is Special month for me for many reasons. First is, its the month I am born ;-) . I love March because it is the season for Mangoes. In my husband's family ,10 of us celebrate our birthday :-). March 1st starts with my Sis-in-law's son"s birthday and March 30th ends with my daughter's birthday.Also I started blogging on March 12, 2009 and surprise surprise I invited Jagruti to join Facebook and became best pal on March the 16th 2010 :)Another most favorite reason is its the month where we celebrate the festival of colours HOLI. Yes!!! this post is all about HOLI. I want to thank Jagruti for inviting me to share about this festival and how do I celebrate my Holi.

only few photos of my holi celebrations.

Holi is the only festival I celebrate with all my tann, mann and dhan :-) ;-)Though there are so many stories behind this festival and many religious beliefs and customs to follow, I believe life is like this festival. Its full of all types of colors. All emotions we feel represent each color. And I love all the colors of life which allows me to enjoy this life every moment.Coming to the HOLI day. My day starts early with making breakfast and lunch ready and keep it aside so that once we come back after playing, the food should be ready. I can play without any tension. Till two years back, mom was there with us on this day and two maids were there to help mom to make special Holi food. I was not worried, but now as I am alone here, I had to prepare and keep. And its not only me, my friends bring their food and keep it in my house. We all play and come back to our house and enjoy the food together. We all go in our bikes in a group and visit almost all the nearby areas. Stopping wherever people are playing, playing with them, screaming with joy. I am out of the world on that day. Sometimes I keep on shouting "happy new year" , "happy birthday" some irrelevant wishes and dance on the road with friends and kids. People think I have taken Bhaang!!!After playing, taking bath, we all gather in our house, have the food and drinks and it goes till 6 pm. Puran poli is must on that day in North Karnataka. Just to give a twist, I am linking my old recipe of

Mayuri of Mayuri's Jikoni from Mombasa Kenya Hi Jagruti and readers of JCO.Thank you for inviting me to participate in celebrating Holi.When I was young growing up in Nairobi, Kenya I hadn't heard about Holi. My first experience of Holi was a water balloon thrown on my back and head when I first went to study in Mt. Abu. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. I prefer to keep away from all those artificial colours and coloured water. It just tends to irritate my skin. I just feel that people should respect others and not force them to play with colours. All these colours and coloured water is also not environmentally friendly.

However, I do celebrate Holi by applying a small dot on my forehead with kumkum, I make something sweet on that day to offer to Lord Krishna.

Holi, The festival of Colors and Good Food is one of the most awaited vibrant festivals in India. It is the festival which celebrates the eternal love of Lord Krsihna and Radha. It is the festival to forget old grievances and meet everybody with warmth and good spirit. It is the festival of delicious food like Thandai, Gujia, Kachori, Gulab Jamun, Dahi Balle, Samosa, Sev, Ladoo etc etc etc (The list is never-ending)

It is the most loved festival among kids when they pester their parents to buy Gulal and Pichkari and start playing much before the real festival. I was no exception. Being the kid of 80's, I was not allowed new pichkari every year. I used to ask my Mother for my old pichkari which she used to take out from one of her storage trunks and used to play with plain water every day after school which started almost a week before the arrival of festival and the hang over continued at least a week post the festival or till I was scolded to finally get over it. Those were the days when we didn't realize the importance of water or the need to save it :(

Though I don’t play with colours or water any more, the spirit still remains the same. Holi brings lots of memories with it every year. The fun days spent with friends, the lip smacking delicacies which we had when we dropped by our friends place to colour them and then my cousins who would land up at the end of the day when I would have already taken a shower to colour me with permanent colours( we called them Varnish which stayed for a week and then only it was agreed that yes played a good Holi :P) . Oh they were sweet devils, My father’s Special Mutton Curry made only during Holi , My mom’s special Gujias, Dahi Balle and Gulab Jamun and then the entire family including all distant relatives united to spend the entire day together enjoying food, playing cards (that was a must at our place) and the entire house filled with Madness.

The recipe posted today is dedicated to all the memories, to my entire family, to all my friends, to old days and to the spirit of Holi..Cheers..

This is my Mom’s Mawa Gujia Recipe which we call Karanji. ( For recipe click on Mawa Gujia )

Jayshree of The Baking Sutra from UK

Holi, festival of colours, is the celebration of arrival of spring. When the mother nature adorns herself with spring blossoms, we play with colours to celebrate it. This is also a time to forgive and forget, a time to mend any broken relationships, a time for fun and frolic, a season to rejoice!

Here, in UK, we don't get any holiday so our holi celebration extends till weekend. If holi falls during the weekdays then we celebrate it with different delicacies and a short play with colours in the evening when family is together. Kids play with water gun and enjoy the true spirit of holi.

Food is the heart of any celebration. On holi, which happens to be my most favourite festival, I try to cook different sweet and savoury dishes that includes traditional malpuas, gujhias, jalebis, Kadhi - Chawal, mutton or chicken curry, nimki, mathari etc.

I also bake some cakes and cookies as my kids are not very fond of Indian sweets. We call our friends and families in India and exchange good wishes. We also play holi based Bollywood songs on YouTube and dance on them. 'Rang barse' is our all time favourite song and it just sets the right mood for the celebration :)

Thank you so much girls for taking out time and contributing to our colourful post on the exciting events of Holi. Please accept my gratitude and bunch of daffodils to bring loads of sunshine to your lives.

Any festival in any religion or country would be tasteless and incomplete without rich and delectable food and Holi is the time for relishing those scrumptious delights. On occasion of Holi, I don't prepare so many varitiey of food like I do on Diwali, but on Holi occasion, two types of sweets are more than enough.

So this Holi I have Channar Puli my friends ! It's delectable and so decadent and you totally want it in a bowl near you ASAP :) I prepared the first time, and was pretty darn delighted with the results. Beautifully soaked in and infused with cardamom sugar syrup, staying so soft and fluffy. They were vanishing pretty soon from the table, that I had to hide few for my baby blog :) A sense of Glorious Joy !!

I chose Channar Poli for Holi, because first thing my family loves Gulab Jamun to core, whether it's Gulab Jamun, Kala Jamun or Sweet Potato and coconut Jamun, also these can be prepared in advance, stay fresh for almost a week, so you can enjoy Holi day fully.

In a big bowl add condensed milk, paneer, plain flour, baking powder and combine well till you get sticky but smooth paste.

Leave it aside for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare sugar syrup, in a wide pan place sugar and water and bring it to boil.Keep stirring and let the sugar dissolves.After 10-12 minutes syrup will get little thicker.The syrup is done when, while dropping from a spoon it falls in a thin single thread.Turn off the heat and add cardamom powder and leave it aside for later use.once again knead the dough for a few seconds.Now make golf size balls of even size. Heat sunflower oil well. Switch off the heat and cool a little. Let in some of the jamuns(3-4), when they rise up put back on heat and fry them on a slow heat till medium brown. Remove from the oil and pierce them with fine needle and put them in Sugar syrup to soak. Repeat for all the jamuns. let it soak for 6-7 hours and garnish with pistachio slivers and serve.Enjoy !

Thank you for stopping by and reading this post ! We hope to see you again soon :)

Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Right now while I am drafting this post, thoroughly enjoy watching Women's T20 worldcup match between India and Bangladesh !! So great to see their stunning performance and few sixes from the 'HarmanPreet Kaur', well done girl, what can I say ' Sikhni is Queen' :) however I am so shocked to see ground is totally empty, there are handful of kids, few women and one woman holding banner 'Proud to be a Woman' !

I am just thinking why is cricket still such a man's game, people aren't aware of the women's cricket ! It is an insult to women's cricket to be treated this way. right now I can see no difference in the matches, girls are playing with same terms and conditions as men cricket. I can see they are playing with same attitude as men, they are hungry for win. Unfortunately, cricket boards, sponsors, media celebrities and of course so called politicians , not giving enough importance to women's crickets. Women's cricket needs more visibility.

Why not celebrate the sport even further, show support for women's Cricket, rather than treating women as second class citizens while we focus so much on women empowerment and their achievements. It's not enough just wishing women's only on 'International Women's Day' and share few messages on social media and talk big things, really want to show your support for women's cricket or any other game first thing first women need to support women, cheer them and make them feel that they are no less , because we need to up our game girls ! ICC and domestic cricket boards needs to bring awareness of women's cricket and expose it to public.

ICC, if you need any suggestions, please write to me I have millions ideas to give :D

Me and my family supporting women's cricket by watching every T20 women's cricket match #supportwomenscricket !! Behind every successful man, there is woman, and vice versa ! Why not men should be equally supportive to make every women successful too.

The way we are supporting women's cricket match, we welcome new dishes too. I love to use various kind of greens heavily in our cooking, and my sunny boy can't get enough of it, he enjoys one portion of greens everyday, and it's my job to find tasty and new recipes for him. Lol we belongs to Popeye family and gain our strength, It can be included in salads, daal, curries, pasta , paratha or rice dishes.

Kale and Herby Tofu Curry, shall we call it cousin of Indian Palak Paneer :) because it is with twist.Palak Paneer, one of the most popular and consumed authentic Indian vegetarian curry served and consumed all over the world in homes and restaurants. We are an ardent fan of this simple yet magnificent curry, you can prepare this curry healthy by reducing fat content or rich and sinful by adding cream and ghee. I love to experiment, sometimes I use tofu, and add nut paste to make healthy and creamy same time, but never replaced spinach.

Recently on one of the food blog, I saw recipe of Kale Paneer, without giving a second thought I decided to make that curry, but I gave another twist and prepared Kale and Herby Tofu Curry as my family love to have Kale in any form. we use it in smoothie, salad even we made pesto too. I was little nervous as I wasn't sure how the kale taste would be, so I followed same method as palak Paneer, used whole spices, kasoori methi and cashew paste to bring richness and marinated tofu to give little kick to bland tofu.

To my surprise, curry turned out so well, we can say that we can eat this everyday, so delicious, nutritious and creamy. So glad I tried this dish as now I have one more recipe to play with :)

Method :-
Drain the water from the tofu and cut into cubes.
Add pinch salt, pepper powder and mixed herbs.
Leave it for 10-12 minutes.
Wash and clean kale and steam.
Once cooled place in a blender and make coarse puree.
Heat one tablespoon oil in a pan, and fry marinated tofu cubes until light brown.
Remove and leave it aside.
Now in same pan, heat remaining oil and add all the whole spices, once they crackle add onion and sauté until light pink.
Add garlic and cook for couple of minutes more.
Now add ginger chilli paste and cook few seconds more.
Tip chopped tomatoes and cook until mushy and oil can be seen on the surface.
Now throw all the masala powder and kasoori methi and cook for couple of minutes.
Add cashew paste and cook further, add couple of spoon water if paste is too thick.
Then add puréed kale and mix well.
Add amchoor powder and sugar.
Now throw in marinted tofu, cook couple of minutes.
Serve hot with roti, paratha or naan.
Enjoy !

Thank you for stopping by and reading this post !
We hope to see you again soon :)

Sunday, 13 March 2016

My family is not a fan of Chiili Bhajiya/Vada or pakoda, I've hardly eaten these probably maximum five times in my entire life and if you ask my husband to eat it, he will behave like he has seen ghost :D and kids would never dare to come near !!!!

I have never made chilli bhajiya by myself, while I was at my parents' mum always prepared it, and I never bothered to make in my own house because no one would eat it. Actually I myself ate Chilli Bhajiya in April 2001 in India last.

So why I am posting Chilli Bhajiya recipe today ? Few months ago my baby sister gave me recipe of Date Cashew Chilli Bhajiya, and asked me to prepare it, but I totally forgot about it as first thing we don't do too many fry ups and second it was Chilli Bhajiya !!!

Few days ago I was preparing No bake coconut and fox nuts barsfor my sunny boy, we were preparing dates for this recipe, suddenly I thought about my sister's Chilli Bhajiya recipe and thought about trying it out and convinced husband to eat it, he said he will try if they are not too spicy !

Date Cashew Chilli Bhajiya turned out scrumptious and super delicious. Besan covered deep fried very mild chillies stuffed with super yummy filling of sweet and juicy dates, cashew and various spices and masala. The highlight of dish is delectable and tantalising stuffing, sweet, spicy and little tangy which blends so well with hotness of the chillies and gives these Bhajiya a unique taste.

These Bhajiya or Pakoda makes a magnificent tea time snack or one of the farsan for Gujarati thali. Stuffing can be made in advance and you can stuff chillies in advance too, just fry once guest arrives. These Bhajiya can be a great snack for those who are watching T20World cup or it can be superb treat for a Festival of Holi for your friends and family :)

On festival of Holi , in Gujrat, people eat Date ( Khajoor ), and this dish can be a perfect recipe for Holi.

Oh did I tell you that husband gobbled up couple of them, what a great achievement !!! We had ours with cold drink, not daring enough to have chilli bhajiya with hot masala chai :)

You will need :-

6 very mild long green chillies

10-12 tbsp. besan

3 tbsp. rice flour

Pinch soda BiCo

Pinch hing

Salt to taste

1 tsp. red chilli powder

Pinch turmeric powder

1/2 tsp. carom seeds ( Ajwain )

1 tbsp. ground cumin and coriander

Water as needed

Oil for deep frying

You will need :- Filling

8-10 pitted medjool dates or any

4 tbsp. cashew nuts finely chopped

1 tbsp. sesame seeds

1 tbsp. desiccated coconut

Salt to taste

1 tbsp. red chilli powder

1 tsp. amchoor powder or lemon juice

1 tsp. cumin, coriander , fennel seeds lightly crushed

Method :-
Wash and dry chillies with kitchen towel.
Slit them length wise on single side using knife by keeping ends intact.
Leave it aside.
Place dates in M/W bowl and cook for one minute.
Remove, mash dates with the spoon and add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Now take one chilli and fill one tbsp. date stuffing mixture.
Stuff all the chillies with the same process.
To make batter place besan , rice flour, red chilli powder, ajwain, salt, hing and ground cumin coriander.
Add water and whisk until you get smooth and thick consistency batter like pancake.
Batter should be lump free.
Heat oil in a frying pan or kadai.
Once oil is heat properly , add soda bico in batter, and pour couple of spoon hot oil, mix well.
Dip stuffed chillies in batter, coat chillies properly and carefully drop into hot oil.
You can deep fry maximum 3-4 chillies in one batch.
Keep heat on medium and fry until they turn light brown and crispy.
Remove using slotted spoon and repeat same process with remaining stuffed chillies.
Serve hot with mint and coriander chutney, cold drink or tea or coffee.

Thank you for stopping by and reading this post !
We hope to see you again soon :)

Friday, 11 March 2016

These healthy coconut and Fox nut bars are pretty darn addictive. It's vegan, egg free , healthy and so easy to make. Great for lunch boxes, even for breakfasts or just perfect craving buster without feeling guilty. They can make great addition to your snack platter to munch on something sweet while enjoying watching T20 world cup or during Holi celebrations !

In most of my healthy Bars recipes I have used Nuts or protein powder to make more healthy, this time I have used Fox nuts along with nuts , since it has good amount of Protein. In Indian homes, Fox nut ( Makhane ) considered superior to nuts as almonds, cashew and walnuts in terms of sugar and protein, In a nut shell Makhane are highly nutritious.

Method :-
Place everything in a food processor and process until mixture gets smooth and clump into a ball.
Spread the mixture evenly into tray with lined parchment paper.
Cover the tray and let it set in a cool place.
Remove the set bars from the tray and cut into pieces using sharp knife.
Keep in an airtight container.
Enjoy !

Thank you for stopping by and reading this post ! We hope to see you again soon :)

Thursday, 10 March 2016

This summer is going to be a special one for India, and cricket fans across the globe as the sixth edition of T20world cup is already started in India, and the craze can be seen everywhere.

As cricket rules the roots of India, and regardless of whether you love it or hate, but you cannot ignore it specially when the cricket world cup is hosted by India and is getting more and more interesting and exciting. Cricket fans all over the globe want their respective nation to emerge triumphant.

Myself being of Indian origin, following and watching cricket since my childhood for years and years I always supported team India, I guess we all have love for our country in all of us, however now UK is my first home and being a British my patriotism for England is equal as I have for India.

Cricket fever is peaking in my house too, we are all waiting for the nail biting matches which puts the spectators in stance. Oh ! and of course the most awaited match between India and Pakistan, oh yes, no matter what, this match will be biggest highlight of the tournament and the 2016 tournament will be no less than a cracker !

My ideal final would be India V England :) I'll be more than happy if either wins !!!

While #WorldT20 cricket matches is on and enjoying so many boundaries, sixes, catches, howzatt and so much drama with friends and family, it's time to munch and relish few snacks and drink. Super exciting matches and finger licking snacks goes hand in hand.

As I said we have been caught up by cricket fever and recently we watched Asia cup finale between India and Bangladesh, I made Sumac Hummus and Instant Lavash Crackers to munch on while we were watching match. I like to prepare snacks which are so easy and also can be made in advance, so I can too enjoy watching match with the family.

We can have these hummus with either vegetable crudités ,crackers or as spread or just eat it with the spoon. This time I made Lavash or Lavosh, thin ,crispy and crunchy bread which hails from Middle east. Authentic Lavash made from flour, salt and water, sometimes yeast is used too and sesame seeds sprinkled on before baking.

However nowadays I have seen Lavash sprinkled with various kind of seeds, herbs, Cheese and spices. Lavash are delicious as picnic or pre dinner nibble and often served with middle eastern dips like hummus, Baba Ghanoush , Tatziki or with soft cheese.

But when you are in a hurry and TV screen on pause, as family members are getting impatience you don't want to be in the kitchen, do you ? Then your brain starts ticking and you come up with a great Instant Lavash Crackers. Okay, one might say it's not traditionally prepared , but definitely tastes great. Also crunchy, spicy and flavourful.

I used wholemeal seeded Tortilla wraps, just a little margarine and for topping I used various kind of seeds, herbs and paprika. In less than ten minutes we had perfect, delicious and healthy crackers, which we immensely enjoyed while watching cricket match because hummus and Lavash are an excellent snack food to have around when you have a company of friends and family.

BTW, India won the Asia cup 2016 :) if happens that you too love cricket or your family members and want to munch away snacks like Hummus and crackers, Make right away, or if you want to try something different check out my couple of flavoured and Spiced Nuts recipes.

You will need :- Sumac Hummus

150 g boiled chickpeas

25 g tahini

1 tsp. Sumac + some to sprinkle

2 clove garlic

1 tsp. lemon juice

Few tbsp. water

3-4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil + 1 tsp. for garnishing

3 tbsp. parsley + little for garnishing

Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Method :-

Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender jar.Whirl away until smooth and combined.If the mixture is too thick add little more oil and little water.Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.Transfer in a serving bowl, garnish with the remaining oil, sumac and parsley. Serve with Instant Lavash crackers or your favourite crackers or toasted pitta bread and veggies for a healthy snack. You can store this hummus in a jar up to 3-4 days in a refrigerator.

Method :-
Pre heat oven to gas mark 6.
Take one tortilla wrap, place on a baking sheet and apply very little margarine thinly.
Sprinkle seeds, herbs and paprika.
Now with using pizza cutter cut tortilla into stripes but not all the way, keep ends together so you still have round tortilla wrap but cut in between.
Bake for no more than five minutes. Keep an eye on like a hawk. ( experience speaks :P )
Remove from the oven and let it cool for couple of minutes, it will get hardened more once it cools down.
Serve with sumac hummus.
Enjoy !

Thank you for stopping by and reading this post !
We hope to see you again soon :)